Tongue still not working

[chamlover]

Ok, the rescue we took in a couple of weeks ago has been to the vets and everything checks out ok. It doesn't look like there is any reason for him not to use his tongue. When we hand feed him he opens his mouth without too much trouble, sometimes he will open on his own, and he will eat them, but even if i put them in his cage he still won't eat on his own. Tried containers and free-range. I'm lost as what else to do or try. Do you think i should stop feeding him for awhile and see what happens? I lost my camera so i cant take a pic of him, but by looking at him you would see he looks perfectly healthy. Any ideas? How long do you think i should go without feeding him before i do something?

Debby

 

[jannb]

If it were me, I'd continue to force feed until you see he's eating on his own.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

So the vet determined it wasnt a vitamin deficiency?

 

[IndyFan]

Maybe try different feeders?

 

[ColorCham427]

How old is he? If he's a juvie then he needs to EAT! Try giving him a little bit of Vit. B Complex.. make sure when you offer him food you allow him to catch it on his own.. depending on how long he's had this problem, you might not be able to reverse it... he'll eventually learn to survive without that long tongue as his fishing pole... I suggest that you offer him slow moving feeders that wiggle enough to stimnulate him.. dust them with enough cal powder (i use rep cal w/ d3) so theres a visible greyish coating on the feeders.. once he's moving and getting larger and getting the hang of his new way of catching his prey, let some crix free roam to force him to excercise... IM NO EXPERT.. BUT I JUST EXPERIENCED THIS PROBLEM... and my little one's tongue is much better and he's able to shoot it a couple inches further... dont give up on him.

 

[chamlover]

According to his original owner: he is just over 2 years old. I'm not so sure he does look a little younger to me. We did manage to just get the medical records today and my vet is going to take a look at them so maybe they will give us a better idea as to where to go. I've tried superworms in a bowl, crickets in a bowl, and crickets free-ranged and nothing. He will not eat on his own! When he sees that we have a cricket he doesn't give us too much of a hard time oopening his mouth, but we still have to pry it open. I've got hornworms and silkworms on the way so i will try those too. Are you talking about just a vit b complex? He does get a multivitamin 2 x month. I was just thinking that he might need to get a little hungry in order towant to chase his food. I let him go 4 days and nothing.

Debby

 

[ColorCham427]

I used this liquid form of B Vitamin Complex. Hornworms are great, I'm praying that ur little guy will take the hornworm! Normally hornworms are the ideal feeder insects to get ur hunger striked cham to give in! But im not so sure if hes on hunger strike?

4 days... he must be drinking... could u post a picture of him.. atleast 6 pics in different angles. what day r the hornworms and silkies arriving? Silkies have good source of nutrients... r u getting the worms with pre-made chow? those r a must with this one..

My herp vet tugged at one of my male's neck and opened his mouth that way. I dont rec. it. Did u try to show him a reflection of himself? that could get him to get "big" and possibly open his mouth. enough time to put a good juicy worm in him.

Is his skin more pale looking then normal? "chalky" This only happened one time to me, but one of my panthers didnt eat for 6 days!!! then i woke up turned on his light and he was shedding! that day he ate for me.

If he doesnt eat in the next day or two.. take him to a specialist..please.

 

[chamlover]

I'll try to take pics this weekend when my daughter gets here. I lost my darn camera and cant' find it anywhere.

Yes he is a very light color. Very dull looking, but again he is a rescue and i don't know what his color looked like before. I have 2 males and they are both ALOT more colorful then he is. When we feed him my hubby uses a rubber spatula and gently opens his mouth while i stick in a half dead cricket. He doesn't give us toooo much trouble but we certainly need to get him to learn to eat on his own.

I think my vet finally got the records from his origianl vet but i dont' know what else we can even do or look for. In NH our reptile vets are extremely limited in their knowledge. If you look at the little guy (his name is Sammy ) he really does look healthy. I actually got my worms in today and i put a big juicy hornworm in his cage. He hasn't eaten it yet but he is looking at it so hopefully he will go after it. We didn't let him go more than 4 days without feeding him because he still looks a little thin.

Debby

 

[chamlover]

OK, now i feel horrible. I put this really big juicy hornworm in with Sammy figuring in just a few minutes he will be swallowing it and problem solved. But instead he spent all afternoon running away from the worm. lol. Whenever it got too close to him he would move over, then it would get close, then he would move over. Poor guy! He didn't eat it all day. Don't know what else i can do to help this little guy start eating on his own. Good thing i'm not working, these guys got me hopping. lol

Debby

 

[ColorCham427]

Hey, how big is the hornworm? hornworms tend to grow at rapid speed... make sure when they get large to take off their pinchers. when i first introduced a new feeder a couple of my chams were scared..lol.. kinda funny knowing in a couple days they'll be loving them because they'll fall in love with their taste!

 

[chamlover]

Take off what pinchers? Do you mean i've been feeding my chams hornworms and i was suppose to be taking something off? My poor babies! I've never had any of my chams refuse them before. This worm didn't even get close enough to the cham to do anything to him, i think he is just afraid of it. lol. Hard to imagine he never had any, but it could be possible. I know he use to eat superworms before this problem.

Debby

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Take off what pinchers? Do you mean i've been feeding my chams hornworms and i was suppose to be taking something off? My poor babies! I've never had any of my chams refuse them before. This worm didn't even get close enough to the cham to do anything to him, i think he is just afraid of it. lol. Hard to imagine he never had any, but it could be possible. I know he use to eat superworms before this problem.

Debby

We ordered an expensive tub of hornworms last year for Guido, our adult veiled. He was terrified of them.

Debby, did the vet do a blood test?

 

[chamlover]

Their vet did i believe. We just got all the old medical records in and my vet is calling me back on Mon to see where we go from here. I haven't seen any of the records yet so i don't know exactly what has been done. I can let you know on Mon once i speak with the vet.

I checked on the hornworm and it looks like it might have been wounded. Maybe he did actually try to get it then let go. Now that i found my camera i will go take a pic and post it.


Debby